Minemes

Hello everyone! Clara here, interviewing some people that like to do dress up of famouse people like myself.

It's so great to go back to Japan to re-interview my famous friend TaeYeon from Korea! She lives in Japan now, but she lives near Kobe and I had to run away quickly after the interview because some weird guys ran after me offering massages and beer...
Any way, here's my interview with this great bipedal person.

Hello clothes wearing human, can you tell us something about yourself, why you dress up like other people or animals and also, why do you wear clothes?

Hi~! I’m TaeYeon from Korea J I met some of you last year! I dress up because it’s fun!! Imagine there’s the worlds best attractive character and you can be her/him/it, then why hesitate being that character? Also you can be in some different world or dimension while you’re in a special costume so it feels pretty nice. And those clothes are cute! You should try it some time >v</

What is the image of The Netherlandsin your country? Our image of your country is that you all walk around with Samsung mobiles and drive Hyundai cars.

Uh…holding orange flag in the right hand and Heineken beer in left hand, walking around tulip gardens wearing wooden shoes..? Haha, just kidding. Netherlands’ image in Korea is beautiful country with a lot of tulips and windmill. In the town there must be many bicycles and people can speak English so well so anyone can easily travel around. Plus, your country looks so free!!

We heard you were a famous human in your habitat. What have you achieved in your clothes wearing profession? I myself was chosen Cow of the Year, due to my immaculate spot pattern on my body for four years in a row.

I was representative of WCS (World cosplay summit) for Korea in 2012, Champion of ACM (Asian cosplay meet) 2011, WCS karaoke representative in 2013. Attended TIFF (Tokyo international film festival) 2014 as Korean representative. I also won many prizes for cosplay performances in Korea with my cosplay team. So, I was representative for 4 years in a row like you! But my favourite part was that I could visit some countries as a guest and meet people in different countries >v< It was and is so exciting!!

Think big grassy meadow with nice and crisp leaves and of course, no other human smelly things in the area. What would you bring to ruminate for a weekend? You may choose 4 items.

Mattress, pillow, duvet, pyjamas. I love sleeping. To spend active time, maybe barbecue set, fire, food and you! Don’t worry, it’s just for milk, even though I love beef…

What are your favourite 5 items from Japan?

Wasabi, Pudding, Matcha/cookie brownie Frappuccino, oh wait, they are all food. Well, I’ll put Mandarake( the second hand otaku item shop) there too brcause it’s cheap and has tons of items and cosplay studios for the two items I have left.

When I go to Japan people often assume I am from Kobe because of the way I look. Do people ever make mistaken assumptions about you because of the way you look and what can you do about it

Yeah… I’m Korean and Koreans looks not very different from Japanese. Also, I can speak Japanese, so people sometimes think I’m Japanese. And my FRIENDS who are not doing cosplay don’t believe me when I show them my cosplay photos and I tell them it’s me.

When I went on stage for the first time I was really nervous. Then someone gave me some milk and that helped to calm me down. It wrecked havoc with my digestion afterwards as I am lactose intolerant, but since then I learned that some freshly squeezed afalfa juice with straw will do the trick whenever I am nervous. Do you have similar tricks for when you and/or your co-actors are nervous?

When I’m so nervous before stage, I smile. Making smile relaxes me a bit. If that doesn’t work, I slowly close my eyes, and open them. It is natural to be nervous on the stage. However, if I see the audience and the audience cheers for me, that is the moment I can start enjoying the stage. So for my fellow performers, I’m trying my best to cheer them up. To co-actors, I keep saying let’s enjoy it and when we are on the stage, I try to make a lot of eye contact. Make them sure that I’m with them.

When I just started out cosplaying sometimes cows in my herd looked down on me and my passion. This really hurt me at the time. Did you have any similar experiences when you started? What did you say to them? Do you think cosplay is becoming more accepted both as a hobby and as a profession?

I think it’s becoming a culture. I want it to be a culture. I was a person who didn’t like cosplay at first when I saw it and I know people don’t like strange things. But when I tried it, it was so much fun and my friends changed their attitude on cosplay when I started it. So I think people are changing and have changed a lot.

In my third year as a cosplayer I built a mecha using duct tape and recycled firelighters. Of course the whole thing looked pretty ridiculous and I wouldn't want to wear it now, but I do have really fun memories of it. Do you have some similar cosplay from way back when?

I was in a cosplay circle when I was in high school. We had to make a stage for advertising our circle to freshmen. It was my first time to make music, dance and a story line so the music was simple, the dance was childish and I’m not sure that act had a story. In short, it was so unshaped. But still, we succeeded to show what we practiced, people liked it and above all, we enjoyed it a lot. So it became one of the best memories..

Have you ever done a horned cosplay? If so don't you agree a horned live is better? (If not how do you clean your hooves without horns?)

I’ve tried animal ears, but I don’t recall any horns… But if you are using your horns to clean your hooves, what are you using for cleaning your horns….???

My partner Marieke sometimes acts as if she is the only AnimeCon mascot. I hate it when she does that. How do you handle partners hogging all the attention?

Stick to Marieke! Hahaha, well, I don’t know. Just do my best? I always try to be together with my partners so I really didn’t have that problem until now I guess.

When doing bipadel cosplays you have to stand on your hind legs the whole day. This can get pretty tiresome. Do you have any tips on how to prepare for cosplays when you have to use your body in unnatural ways?

There’s only one way. Endure it. I think about time schedule and check when I can take some rest and take some uncomfortable parts off. It is really important to manage yourself not to exceed the limit. But if there’s no time to take some rest, try to get the adrenaline. Or coffee ^_^;;

What is this rumour about a photo book?

Yes, that's right! I will be selling a few copies of my first photo book at AnimeCon!